Information about sending items from a foreign country to Poland

Good day to all of you.
I have been recently wanting to send a gift to a friend who happens to live in Poland. I am going to send it from Qatar through post but the main deal which I am worried about is the tax. Who is going to pay that? The recipient as in her? And how much would it be.

Any help'd be appreciated. Thank you.

You'd be better off sending it via a courier like DHL. They'll advise you about any tax/customs issues. The item will arrive quicker and will definitely be delivered.

The Polish postal system can be unreliable unless you're using registered post and parcels have been known to be opened by customs and delayed or sometimes returned to the sender for no obvious reason.

I received a parcel from Ireland a few months ago (another EU country) which was sent by registered post but it had been opened and the contents repacked in a different box!! Also I never received any notification that the parcel was at the Post Office. It was only because I contacted the sender and then paid a visit to the PO to enquire if it had arrived that I got it at all. Most times I get my packages without a problem but as I say, you can't depend 100% on the postal service in Poland.

Thank you for the reply, Atch. I suppose it'll be better to use DHL or something similar to that. Thank you yet again for your reply.

You're welcome Vanitex.

Yes, always use a courier.

Worth mentioning that you post a package to Poland from certain countries using their normal post office it will be delivered by courier anyway - a few country's post offices do not entrust items to Poczta Polska because the level of theft is so high.

Thank you for the tips. If anyone can make this thread answered, please do and thank you again for the suggestion and the help. Dziękuję.

I personally haven't much problems with Polish post. If the parcel is registered, then the loss shouldn't have place. Although everything may happened, in my opinion it's not frequent.

There's always an option to purchase insurance, but in the case of sending packages abroad, you'll need to use EMS courier which is expensive (however the insurance alone is very affordable)

Have a look at some of the threads here, Looker, and talk to people from abroad who live in Poland. Sadly theft of incoming mail is so commonplace that some countries' postal services now have contracts with couriers rather than risk Poczta Polska.

I've been lucky - I've only had bank cards stolen which are easy to cancel. Others have some real horror stories.

I talked about outgoing shipments, but I know the topic is sending items to Poland. Personally also here my experience is not so bad, and I quite frequently buy some minor things from abroad (China/HK mostly - small electronics). And through the years I had maybe two situations when my item was gone.

I don't know maybe I am just lucky or the theft is more common for a different shipments pattern.

Outgoing is OK - it's usually very quick. Basically the pickings aren't as rich.


It's very possible that your surname is Polish rather than foreign. I tend to have things sent using a Polish surname to avoid problems.